Hot & Sour Soup

8 oz ham fried crispy
1 lb bulk sausage, hot cooked crispy
1 block extra firm tofu, cubed
1 lb white mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
6 oz. dried shitake mushrooms, soaked overnight and sliced
6 oz. dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked and sliced into ribbons
1 oz. dried day lily stems soaked and chopped
2 tablespoons chicken bullion paste
64 oz. chicken stock
1 white onion, halved and discarded after cooking
4 cloves diced garlic
2 inches grated ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
10 oz. bamboo shoots, slivered
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons black vinegar
5 ounces soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon chili paste
4 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon white pepper
sliced green onion for garnish
fresh squeezed lime juice

I cooked/fried the meats to crispy and mushrooms in batches and threw into my big pot.

In the small pot, heat the chicken stock to boiling, and start swirling it with chopsticks and slowly add the beaten eggs so they instacook into ribbons.

I veered off the traditional recipe by adding 4 oz. cooked angel hair noodles

Add everything into the big pot, add the cornstarch, saving the vinegars and white pepper for the last second. Made last minute corrections by adding liquid for more broth, then re-adding the broth players of bullion, soy, vinegars, cornstarch so the flavor is right AND the texture is right. Thick-ish but not gloppy.

Post-eating comments: MMmm perfect. So unctuous and deep from the black vinegar and it hits that perfect spot in your belly for rainy day soup.